Strategies for Synbio Success

Synthetic biology (synbio) has high potential as an alternate production route for chemicals, with emerging applications in agrifood, beauty and personal care, chemicals, and consumer products. However, effectively using synbio capabilities requires understanding the right strategy for each of the distinct value propositions it can offer, including marketing benefits, environmental benefits, novel products, cheaper production, and flexible production. In this report, we highlight how synbio strategies will evolve over the next decade, changing from creating niche products with “green” credentials, to creating new molecules not accessible with current tech, to developing new capital-light business models based on strain development and fermentation-as-a-service.